Swine flu vaccine warning

Dr Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s flu chief, warned about the potential dangers of the untested vaccine on 27th July: “There are certain areas where you simply do not try to make any economies. One of the things which cannot be compromised is the safety of vaccines.”

And yet, the European Medicines Agency, the drug regulatory body for the EU, is accelerating the approval process for the vaccine, allowing firms to bypass large-scale human trials and instead test a vaccine based on bird flu.

Britain, Greece, France and Sweden plan to start using it as soon as it is cleared, despite the WHO’s warning.

Does that set any alarm bells ringing?

The 1976 swine flu vaccine caused neurological damage and it transpired later that the vaccine had never been tested.

The Department of Health said it was “extremely irresponsible” to suggest Britain would use an unsafe vaccine. A spokesman said: “Over 40,000 doses of the vaccine which the swine flu vaccines are based on have been given without any safety concerns.”

Excuse me? Who is being irresponsible here? It is not those worried about the safety of the vaccine who are being irresponsible; it is those who are not worried but plan to go ahead with it anyway who are being irresponsible.

The DoH has no safety concerns. But the WHO does. And we know what happened in 1976.